Regis Prograis is confident and ready to use his power, speed & skills to defend his WBC light welterweight title against the ambitious challenger Devin Haney this Saturday night.
Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) says he’s going “disable” Haney’s main weapon, his jab, and deal with his constant clinching with the referee’s help, which he expects to be a fair & competent one.
If Prograis can take away Haney’s jab and keep him from using his clinching, which is frequently excessive, he’s got a good chance of winning.
Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) and Prograis will headline this Saturday, December 9th, on DAZN at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.
The 34-year-old Prograis still believes Haney chose him mainly because of his last performance against Danilieto Zorreilla last June, which was an all-time worst for the New Orleans native.
Still, Regis feels that Haney made a mistake in choosing him based on that effort because that wasn’t the real him, and he’ll be ready to show that on Saturday night.
Prograis says fans think all he’s got is power going for him, but they’re wrong. He’s got skills, and he intends to display them along with his hand speed, which he feels will shock Haney.
Prograis says Haney be shocked by his speed
“I’m not even depending on pure power. I think that’s what everybody is trying to portray this as. Power vs. skill, but I’m really on my skill. That’s what I’ve been doing here,” said Regis Prograis to Fight Hub TV, talking about his fight this Saturday night against Devin Haney.
Prograis has used his power game to knock out 24 of his 30 opponents, so it’s not surprising that fans & the media believe that’s the only way he can win this fight. You never see the 34-year-old Prograis staying on the outside, jabbing, and trying to win decisions in his fights.
Part of the reason is that he doesn’t have a good job, and he has short arms compared to other 140-pounders.
“Yes, I got power, but I think it’s going to shock him about my speed, how fast I really am,” said Prograis about Haney. “It’s not going to be the power. The power is one thing, but I’m not just walking him down like I’m a Mexican. It’s going to be some skill going on.”
Prograis shouldn’t get too caught up in trying to dazzle Haney with his speed because that might not work for him on Saturday. It would be smart for the New Orleans native Prograis to stick with what got him this far rather than trying to change things up too much, trying to impress fans and show the younger fighter that he can beat him at his own game.
“I’m going to disable him [neutralize],” said Prograis when asked how he’ll deal with Haney’s jab. “What I’ve been doing in the gym and in sparring, that’s not going to work. If that’s all he’s got, it’s not going to work.
“I know that’s not all that he’s going to have. He’s going to be working on some stuff,” said Prograis about him believing that Haney will have more than a good jab on Saturday. “He’s not going to beat me,” said Prograis.
If Prograis can take away Haney’s jab, that would be a significant feat and would have a good chance of winning this fight. He’d still need to get to Haney, an excellent mover who won’t be standing in one place, making it easy for him to get his shots off.
Prograis ready for Devin’s clinching
“I think he’ll try, but we’ll be prepared for that [Haney’s clinching],” said Prograis. “Of course, we prepare for everything. I think he’ll probably try, but it’s not going to work. All that clinching, it’s not going to work, and we’re going to get a fair referee, so it’s not going to work.
“I think everything is going to be good; everything is going to be fair. I’m not going to have to worry about all that stuff. You have to prepare for everything, not just that, but it might got that way,” said Prograis about Haney potentially getting rough with him.
Ideally, there should be a good referee working the fight on Saturday that won’t allow Haney to game the system by clinching excessively, but most refs tend to allow fighters to use this tactic.
When talking about a popular fighter like Haney, it’s hard to imagine a referee coming down hard on him and taking points away if he chooses to hold all night to prevent Prograis from throwing.
“That’s kind of what I do in all my fights [show his opponents who is boss],” said Prograis. “Just dictate everything. The pace and everything. That’s what I do anyway. You can only go by a person’s last fight. So, I guess the Loma fight.
“For me, I don’t judge on fights in the past three or four years ago because I know he’s going to develop as a person and a fighter. So, I’m not worried about that. I go on the last fight, and that’s it. He gets touched. He gets touched by a lot of stuff,” said Prograis when asked what he learned from watching Haney’s last fight in May against Vasily Lomachenko.
Will Devin wilt under Regis’ power?
“It’s not just a left hand. He got touched by a left, right, and body shot. He just got touched a lot,” said Prograis. “I know when I land those same punches, it’s going to be different. That’s all. When I land the same punches that Loma landed, it’s not going to be the same.”
It could be a difficult night for Haney if Prograis can land as often as Vasily Lomachenko did last May, but Regis doesn’t move as well. Loma used a lot of quick footwork to get in punching range of Haney, and still had to deal with his clinching on top of that. Prograis doesn’t move nearly as well and isn’t as proficient at dealing with clinching as Lomachenko.
“I punch a lot harder than Loma, so it’s going to be different. I don’t respect the s*** out of Devin or the Haney’s or anything,” said Prograis. “I don’t respect s*** about Devin or the Haney’s. It’s war, and that’s all we got to do. I’m locked in. No credit now. It’s wartime. It’s war mode. That’s my enemy, and I don’t give credit for s***t.
“Yeah, of course. It was because of the last fight,” said Prograis when asked if he was surprised Haney took the fight with him. “This is one of the biggest fights leaving off of this year, and it’s because of that performance [against Danielito Zorrilla].”
Haney didn’t have much choice but to take the fight with Prograis because he wasn’t going to mess around with IBF 140-lb champ Subriel Matias, and it would have been worthless to fight WBA champion Rolly Romero due to how he won his belt.
Trying to negotiate a fight with WBO champion Teofimo Lopez would have taken an extended amount of time, possibly using up a year. We just saw Errol Spence throw away a year of his career in his negotiations with Terence Crawford, and he paid a heavy price. He got one payday instead of three and was so ring-rusty that he never stood a chance of winning.
“They [the Haneys] don’t know what they’re stepping into. They don’t know what they’re getting into. It’s going to be different. The skill level is going to be different. The power is going to be different,” Prograis said about Haney. “He’s never tasted nothing like this before.
“So, once he tastes that, once he sees my skill level, and once he sees how fast and the power, he’s going to be like, ‘Damn, it is different,’ said Prograis about Haney.
A victory for Prograis would allow him to gloat and say, ‘I told you so,’ but it’s not likely to go his way on Saturday night because he’s looked so bad lately. It’s more likely that we’ll see Prograis suffer his second career defeat, and he’ll need to rebuild after that.
